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“There was such a thing?”
The slightly accusatory tone in her voice made me chuckle, although the story had nothing in it to laugh about. “Yeah, or so the six delinquents thought of themselves as. We ruled the school. Hell, even the teachers were afraid of us, but Belle had nothing to lose. She’d been a loner, which was something all of us had been. Even though the rest of us had come from decent or prominent families, we were castaways for various reasons.”
“What happened?” she asked so quietly I had to strain in order to hear the two words. I noticed she was continually rubbing her thumb back and forth across my knuckles, the gesture soothing.
But not enough to keep my heart from racing.
“Belle was a difficult person. She had a foster mother who couldn’t care less about the girl, taking the money the state awarded her to party with her boyfriends. We accepted Belle into our motley group and within a couple months, she was as much a part of us as anyone could be. Somehow, we became her protectors, her champions. She was a tough girl, but inside her heart had been ripped apart more times than I could count. It was summer just after some of us graduated high school. Only a couple of us had any clue what we wanted to do with our life, but not Belle. She wanted to become a veterinarian. She loved animals.”
“You were in love with her.”
“I think we all were.”
“I remind you of her.”
Wren’s statement wasn’t accusatory. I dropped my gaze, allowing myself to touch the side of her face, even though I didn’t deserve to feel such joy inside. “A little, yes. She could hold her own. She had a caustic mouth and she refused to follow authority.” I laughed, rubbing my hand down my face. It almost felt good to talk about this.
“A rule breaker just like you.”
“Yeah, she was. But she wanted to forge a life, to help innocent animals. Anyway, she’d already gotten a job and was enrolled in community college. We went on the mountain almost as a last hurrah. A couple of the guys had already enlisted in the military and would be leaving Missoula in a month or so. I was still floundering at that point. Gage had gotten himself arrested for stealing a damn car.”
“The sheriff?” She half laughed.
“Gage is an entirely different man now. We all are.” I looked out the window before continuing. “It had been a really dry year and it was still cold in the mountains in May. So I had the bright idea of starting a campfire, only I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.”
“Oh, shut up. I know what I’m doing,” I snarled at Colt, fucking furious that he was questioning me.
“Come on, dude. You’ve never started a fire with two stones in your life,” Maverick shot out, laughing at me as I tried for the fourth time to get the damn shit lit.
I glared at him, grumbling under my breath as I jerked to my feet, heading to get a few more dry twigs, moving deeper into the forest. Still cursing under my breath, I knocked a few loose, dropping to the ground and gathering them into my arms. Then I noticed Belle out of the corner of my eye, the look on her face one I’d never seen before.
She walked toward me, glancing toward the others. “Why don’t you come swim with me?”
“Swim? It’s dark out here.”
“I ain’t afraid of the dark. Are you?”
I swallowed hard as I gazed at her, the last remaining light of the afternoon creating shadows across her face. But as she pulled down one side of her sweatshirt, exposing her shoulder, I froze.
“Come on. Come play with me.”
My cock twitched as if had done so many times when she was close by. But I knew better than to break the sacred pact we’d made with each other. “I can’t do that, Belle.”
“Why? Because of the others?”
“Because we’re all friends. That’s very special for all of us. Why don’t you come back. I’m trying to build a fire.”
A look of hurt crossed her face before she shut down all her emotions. “Suit yourself. I’m going for a swim.”
The memory was too fresh, the jab of pain almost too much to bear. “Then she disappeared, and I didn’t go after her.”
“That doesn’t mean you killed her.”
I laughed, raking both hands through my hair. “Don’t you get it? I did start the fire, but I was a fool because I had no freaking clue how to contain it. After drinking a couple beers, I fell asleep. When Gage woke me up, the trees were already on fire and Belle was nowhere to be seen. I killed her.”
She scooted closer, taking my other hand into hers. “No, that doesn’t mean you were responsible. Besides, if the campfire you started had anything to do with the forest fire, it was an accident.”
“I don’t buy that, Wren. You don’t understand. She was an innocent girl.”
